(a)

Kazami Yuka sat in the passenger seat, chin clutched, neck crooked, head resting on the window, expressionless looking at the traffic and the strange steel forest outside the window, without saying a word. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"What do you think of my car?" Nalan asked, holding the steering wheel in his hand, and suddenly asked.

After staying in the car for a long time, he tends to get bored, so he needs to pick a starting topic, as long as it can relieve boredom, he can talk about anything.

"It......'s very steady," Yuka replied, her eyes still fixed on the window, "There is almost no difference between running and not running, and when you close your eyes, you can't tell if you're moving." ”

"I just sat here, motionless, watching the scenery flash by like a marquee, and it felt very unreal. The feeling is just like the scenery itself, cold and unreal. ”

"I thought you'd be more excited," Nalan said, "like pointing out the window and yelling, 'Wow, that's a god, it's fun.'" ”

"Who are you and me?" Yuka turned her head and glared at him, "Is it a girl who came out of the village for the first time at the age of thirteen or fourteen?"

"Are you admitting that you're old?"

"If you want to roll over, don't beat around the bush like this. ”

"Haha," Nalan Hao laughed and added, "Speaking of which, 'the girl who came out of the village for the first time', isn't this just describing Reimu and Marisa!"

"I don't understand," Yuxiang looked out the window again, "I'm not very familiar with those people." ”

"Then you really need to get acquainted, especially Marisa, that guy is so funny. ”

"What's a funny way?"

"'UH-OH, WHAT KIND OF RICE IS THAT, DAMN DAZE!' IF SHE WAS IN THIS CAR RIGHT NOW, SHE WOULD DEFINITELY YELL OUT THE WINDOW IN THAT TONE. I don't believe it, when we pick her up, you can pay attention to her reaction. ”

"What is she?" Yuka said with a frown, "A wild man who grows up and doesn't have the slightest understanding of gender?"

"No, she's just a normal boy. If you have such a person around, you will find that life is full of laughter. ”

"No, you don't. ”

Yuxiang's words directly ended the topic, and the atmosphere in the car suddenly cooled down. After a moment, she took the initiative to ask:

"Marisa, is it strong?"

"No," Nalan replied mercilessly, "the food is unbelievable." In a word, an ordinary child who dreams by magic, riding a broom to rush to the treetops is her limit, but she wants to reach out and pluck the stars in the sky. ”

"But," he said with a smile again, "in Gensokyo, even if you keep doing your dreams, there will come a time when they will come true." ”

"Really?" Yuka raised an eyebrow, "It's not like words would pop out of the mouth of a cynic like you." ”

"It's all true. Marisa is a cook, but she is getting stronger every day, and she is improving all the time. At this rate of growth, I wouldn't be surprised if she did pick a star one day. The premise is that she doesn't lose to herself. ”

"Lost to yourself?"

"Ha, that's just a casual remark I just said, you don't have to take it seriously. Anyway, Marisa is a promising kid, you know that. ”

"Really?" Yuka nodded, and asked again:

"Where does her family live?"

"Aren't you?" Nalan Yu glanced at her in surprise, "You can handle such a young child?"

"Just tell me where her house is, and don't worry about anything else. ”

Yuka reached out and pinched his thigh, almost making him bleed.

"Okay, okay, I'll just say it, oops!" Nalan Yu pinched like this, and immediately softened, grabbed the steering wheel with one hand, and pressed the sore spot on his leg with the other hand, and said:

"Her house is somewhere on the east side of the Enchanted Forest, not too far from that broken prop shop, Xianglin Hall. You can communicate with plants, as long as you get to the neighborhood and you can find them quickly. ”

"Well, I see, let's go around another day. ”

"Promise me not to eat her raw, the physical one. ”

"So, what do you think of me?"

"Overlord Crazy Flower Troll, Demon Girl, Demon Cannon, Peerless Extermination, Shitai, Fengjian Youxiang Great Demon King is also, dangdangdang!"

"Eat you, the physical kind!"

"Look, what am I talking about?"

(b)

By the time they arrived at their destination, the sun had almost set. Nalan Yu casually parked the car on the side of the road, he didn't plan to stay here for too long anyway.

He got out of the car, rubbed the two rows of bloody tooth marks on his arms that had not yet healed, walked to the other side, opened the passenger door, and bowed leisurely.

"Please!"

His voice dragged on for a long time, as if he was deliberately raising the bar more than gentlemanly etiquette.

The person sitting in the passenger seat, seeing the fragrance of the wind, slowly stretched out his legs and left the seat unhurriedly. The whole process of getting off the bus was like slow motion, and after getting down, she had to twist her waist and pat her skirt twice in place, just like a French duchess.

As for Nalan Twilight, who was standing aside with the car door and waiting for her to get out of the car, wait!

After getting out of the car, Yuka took a few steps forward and moved her body, which had become a little stiff due to sitting for a long time.

The small mountain road where the two of them were located was empty, and no car drove by except for Nalan Du's black car. The road is lined with lush greenery, and there is no end in sight. In the twilight, the shadow of the forest in the distance gradually merged with the fog and was no longer visible.

Yuxiang stood in the middle of the road, took a deep breath of fresh air belonging to the forest, and suddenly felt refreshed, and the fatigue of the long journey was swept away and no longer existed.

"Where are we?" she asked, turning back.

"A small village called 'Hakuba Village', on a hill on the outskirts of the village, to be exact. Nalan Yu casually pressed the car key, turned to face Youxiang, and replied.

"So, what are we doing here?"

"Don't be in a hurry to ask, come with me!"

Nalan Twilight said, and walked onto a dirt road on the side of the road, and just like that, he went into the woods by himself. Although Youxiang was full of suspicion, she didn't want to stand here alone and wait, so she hurriedly followed.

Walking through the forest, Yuka suddenly felt that the road under her feet was getting steeper and steeper, and then she realized that she was actually walking to the top of the mountain. After a while, her eyes suddenly opened up to an open field in the middle of the forest. And the dirt road up the mountain has come to an end.

On the top of this mountain, there is a vermilion torii gate, which is old, towering and majestic. The fragrance stood under it, and for a moment there was a little awe.

After all, monsters, no matter how strong they are, are just monsters, and when they encounter this kind of thing that subdues demons and drives away evil spirits, they will eventually be a little scared.

The plaque on the torii gate is engraved with two large characters that have lost some paint, "Joryō" -- this is the name of the shrine. Yuka looked behind the torii gate, but instead of seeing a large shrine with an ancient style as she had imagined, she saw a dilapidated ruin.

Obviously, there used to be a shrine here, once.

"It's a pity......" she shook her head as she gazed at the ruins, and muttered to herself with some regret.

The shrine has been used to suppress demons since ancient times. The shrine is broken, which means that the youkai that was restrained by it no longer exists. In Yuka's opinion, this is not a good thing.

In this era, it's not just these monsters who are dying, even the monsters' old enemies have been swept into the garbage heap of history, and no one remembers them anymore.

Before Youxiang had time to touch the scene, she heard Nalan Yu in front of her say:

"This is it, Joling Shrine, or more bluntly, Hakurei Shrine. ”

"Hakurei Shrine?"

"Another version of the Hakurei Shrine, you can think of it as a real-world branch of the Hakurei Shrine, at least in terms of poverty. All in all, this is the closest place to Gensokyo, and there may not be one. ”

Yuka listened to his words, closed her eyes and carefully felt the surroundings, then nodded, and said:

"Indeed...... You may be used to staying in Gensokyo, but after coming out for a while, when you approach Gensokyo again, you will have a very familiar feeling. It's like returning from a trip and standing on the doorstep of your home to smell home again. ”

"I don't have any psychic powers, so I can't be as sensitive to changes in my environment as you are. Nalan Twilight said, "But I know this place, because I opened an opening here some time ago, and entered Gensokyo." ”

"So what?"

"So I was thinking, since this is the entrance, is it possible that it is also an exit?" Nalan Twilight's face showed a sly smile, "First of all, we don't know where those people went after they left Gensokyo. But if you can find out where they came from, and follow their footprints step by step, you might be able to find them, right?"

"So, do you know where the exit is now?"

"I don't know," Nalan shook his head very frankly, but smiled again:

"But you see, if a few people suddenly appear in the vicinity, the trees around them won't be unaware, will they? Although they don't speak, at least not to ordinary people, unless the man's surname is Feng, and he has green hair and likes to flatten people without saying a word. ”

When Yuxiang heard this, she was stunned for a moment, then smiled, stretched out her hand and pointed to the forest behind the ruins, and said:

"There used to be people on the back side of this mountain, but it's too far away to see the situation, so we have to get closer. ”

"This time it's your turn to lead the way, Your Highness the Queen. ”